Thursday, January 23, 2014

The smallish Altra Zero Drop booth was packed as usual. All Altra shoes have zero drop from heel to toe and feature a superb anatomic wide toe box and matching wide forefoot landing. Altra has specific lasts and fit for men and women on all shoes. Love the feel but zero drop is a bit much for me day in day out. I have run in the Superior and Torin.

My eyes were immediately drawn to a new "maximalist" shoe, the Paradigm. Think of it as the road version of the just released 12.2 oz Olympus trail runner. Paradigm is a very light 10.5 oz men's 9 with a 34 mm stack height, right up there with the most cushioned Hokas such as the Mafate or Stinson. The midsole is Altra dual layer EVA with their A Bound energy return layer ( the blue) under the foot. Matching women's model too coming in at 9.5 oz. MSRP $130.

Altra Paradigm

Altra Paradigm

Altra Paradigm

Altra Paradigm: I am a 9 and the shoe here is 10.5 but note the roomy toe box

Update: I went back to take a closer look at the Altra One 2 avery intriguing and super light new cushioned Altra. 7.5 oz with 24 mm of zero drop stack height, the stack height increasing from 18 from the One (1). This is a flexible shoe that reminded me of Nike Free but of course more maximalist. I was told it targets Kinvara and Nike Lunar Racer. No heel counter. Unlike other Altras with their EVA A-Bound combinations, the One has something called Inner Flex EVA that I found out is a mix of EVA and A-Bound, a TPE. MSRP $100. A very nice looking shoe.

Altra One 2

Altra One 2

Altra One 2

The Altra Lone Peak 2 trail runner increases its stack height from 22mm to 25mm and has a more aggressive tread.

Altra Lone Peak 2 Men's

Altra Lone Peak 2 Women

Altra Lone Peak 2 Women

Altra Lone Peak 2 Women

I ran in the original Altra Superior. Better on the road than the trail for me due to the very stretchy un reinforced wide upper and no heel counter. One of my favorite lounging shoes. Well the Superior 1.5 adds upper strapping, reinforcements and a heel counter. Altra and zero drop fans will likely find the Superior 1.5 a fine trail racer.

Altra Superior 1.5

Altra Superior 1.5

Altra Superior 1.5

The Instinct, the very popular original Altra is now Instinct 2.0 gets more cushioning and has a 26mm stack height. MSRP $105.

Many of the models featured are available now from Altra. Your purchase here supports my blog.